SYDNEY, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has thrown his support behind a rail link between Melbourne's international airport and the CBD.
News Limited reported on Friday that Turnbull will include funds in May's Federal budget for the construction of the long-awaited rail link.
Turnbull refused to confirm the reports that the rail link would be supported in the budget but acknowledged it was a plan that had been studied by previous Victorian governments.
"The (Former Premier Dennis) Napthine government took steps towards a rail line to Tullamarine and it's always been something that's been seen as an omission in Melbourne not to have a rail line out to the airport," Turnbull told Melbourne radio station 3AW on Friday.
"There is no doubt as our cities become bigger and more densely settled, you need to have more mass transit."
Jacinta Allan, Victoria's Public Transport Minister, said Federal interest in the project was welcome but a rail link would not be possible until the 8.3 billion U.S. dollar Metro Rail Project was completed in 2026.
"(We) would look forward to working with them to advance the business case on the project because that's what needs to be done first and foremost," Allan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
"We already have a public transport system that has significant challenges because there's not the space to run extra trains.
"The Metro tunnel unlocks that capacity and that's why we're working very hard to deliver that right now."
The operators of the Melbourne Airport have warned that if a rail link is not built the Tullamarine Freeway, the only access road for the airport, would become gridlocked within a decade.
The cost of building the link has been estimated at 3.75 billion U.S. dollars.
